Method and means of protecting aircraft



April 19, 1932. B. J. POLLARD METHOD AND MEANS OF PROTECTING AIRCRAFT 2Sheet s-Sheet Filed Feb. '7, 1930 INVENTOR. Bernard J- P I/0rd April 19,1932. B. J. POLLARD METHOD AND MEANS OF PROTECTING AIRCRAFT Filed Feb.'7, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 H H l "H l l dr l lufil l H H H Bernard J.Pollard BY MQM ATTORNEY-5 Patented Apr. 19, 1932 tsazza BERNARD POLLARD,OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN METHOD AND MEANS OF PROTECTING AIRCRAFT Applicationfiled February 7, 1930. Serial No. 426,682.

My invention relates to equipment for air craft and has particularreference to a process and means for preventing the formation of iceupon the various parts of the airship, as well as a method and meanswhereby the apparatus may be utilized to put out any fire which might bestarted in-the craft.

As is well known, one of the most dangerous hazards encountered by themodern pilot while flying in cold weather 1s the formation of ice on thewings and fuselage of the plane; This formation of ice adds appreciablyto the weight of the craft and for that reason it becomes impossible tonavigate properly. On the mail routes it is often necessary to crossmountain ranges and fly through atmosphere loaded with moisture.

During cold weather this. moisture adheres to the various parts of theplane and rapidly freezes. Many crashes have resulted from.

the pilots' inability to climb over mountain peaks, due solely to theadded weight of the ice so formed on the aircraft.

An object of my invention is to provide neans for overcoming thisdanger, and in loing so I contemplate the use of a liquid vhich has theproperty of preventing ice for-- nation applied over the various partsof the hip as a coating. Calcium chloride suits my purpose admirably,its utility for the purpose of melting snow and ice being aleady known,but I contemplate a novel methd of applying the liquor as a relativelythin oating over the various parts of the aircraft hich are subiected tothe formation of ice 1818011.

Another object of my invention is to pro-' ide an apparatus which willperform this lethod of preventing freezing in an etficient 1d economicalwa Still another object of my invention is to :sociate with theapparatus above specified eans whereby the liquid may be changed to asolution which will extinguish fire.

Fire often breaks out in the aircraft while e same is in flight. This isoften due to eflicient cooling systems for the motor, or

ators, and the subsequent danger of explon should such fire reach thegasoline store chamber is indeed great.

Fire almost invariably results from a crash and, although the crash initself may not prove fatal, the fire which ensues is often suificient tocause an explosion which proves fatal before the occupants of the craftcan extricate themselves.

Inasmuch as it is advisable to provide means for quenching fire whichmight arise in any part of the airship, as well as preventing theformation of ice over the entire craft,

propose to utilize a single system of distribution both for my iceformation preventative liquid and my fire extinguishing solution.

Still other objects and meritorious features of my invention will becomeapparent from the following description taken in conjunc-' tion with thedrawings wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout theseveral figures and wherein:

Fig. l is an elevation of a conventional biplane with part broken awayfor sake of clearness,

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the ship, with part of one upper wing brokenaway, i

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional plan view of my storage tank and theconduits in immediate connection therewith.

Secured in some convenient portion of the fuselage is a storage chamber12. This storage chamber may be of any capacity commensurate with thesize of the fuselage and is designed to contain some such ice formationpreventative as calcium chloride in liquid form. This is commonly calledcalcium chloride liquor.

A conduit 14 is connected at one end with the lower portion of the tank12 and at the other with a pump 16. This pump may be driven in anyconvenient fashion from the motor of the plane, as illustrated in Fig.1.

- Passage of the liquid through this conduit may be closed by means ofthe valve 18. The liquid is drawn from the tank 12 by means of the pump16 and forced through the conduit 20 into a secondary storage chamber22. The

effective pressure behind the liquid may be accurately controlled bymeans of the valve 24, which valve may be conveniently actuated from thepilot seat by some such means as a small hand wheel 25.

Prior to opening into the secondary storage tank 22 a third conduit 26is connected to the conduit 20. This conduit leads back into the storagetank 12 and may be closed by means of valve 28.

lVhere the two conduits and 26 open into one another I provide a two-wayvalve 30 which may be operated conveniently by a lever 32. Thus, bysimply lever 32 the liquor being drawn from tank 12 by the pump 16 maybe directed either back into the tank 12 or into the secondary storagechamber 22.

Opening out from this secondary storage chamber 22 are a. plurality ofconduits which lead to various parts of the plane. There are two mainoutlets 34 and 36, each controlled by an independent Valve asillustrated diagrammatically in the drawings, which lead into what maybe called, for the sake of convenience, the wing header conduit 38 andthe fuselage header conduit 40. It will be noted that each of theseheader conduits is provided with a valve 42 which permits control of theflow of liquid to the right side of the wings or the left side of thewings or the right or left side of the fuselage. The advantage of thisindividual control is ob vious inasmuch as the direction of flight ordirection of wind may be such as to render only one side of the plane,including its wings and fuselage, susceptible to the formation of ice.

The wing header conduit 38 opens on each side into a conduit 44 whichextends upwardly and downwardly to points within the upper and lowerwings respectively. They are connected inside the wings in a T-joint toa conduit 46 which extends parallel to the fuselage. At each extremityof this er aduit 46 a conduit 48 is connected, as cle rly illustrated inFig. 2. At regular intervals throughout the length of these conduitsthere are small spray nozzles 50 which project through the wingstructure. It will be noted that the spray nozzles located at the frontof the wings are located below the top portion of the wing and directthe spray for wardly. It is obvious that the air currents function todrive the spray back over the wing structure. 46 on the inside of thewing structure the streamline of the wings is maintained and noadditional wind resistance results.

As clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3 the lower wing 52 is equippedfor spraying in precisely the same manner as the upper wing 54.

The fuselage header conduit 40 functions to feed various conduitsindicated by the numeral 56 on both sides of the fuselage. It will benoted that those of the conduits 56 manipulating the By locating theconduits closed, and

which extend along the length of the fuselage 58 are located on theoutside thereof. Spray nozzles 50 are located at regularly spacedintervals along these conduits in exactly the same manner as describedin connection with the wing structure.

Opening from the secondary storage chamber 22 is a third conduit 58which functions to supply another conduit 60. This conduit 60 islikewise provided with spray nozzles spaced at suitable intervals alongits length, but is located on the inside of the fuselage for purposeshereinafter more clearly brought out. Conduit 58 is provided withanindividual control valve 62.

It will be noted that the conduits 56 are connected to various similarconduits 64 which are secured to the vertical and horizontal tailrudders of the plane. These conduits 64 also are provided with spraynozzles.

Thus it is obvious that I have provided means for selectively and atwill coating any or all of certain portions of the airplane with liquidwhich will prevent the formation of ice on the part so coated.

It is well known that when calcium chloride liquor is combined withsodium and a powerful acid such as sulphuric acid the resulting gasescreate a tremendous pressure in proportion to the volume occupied by theliquid and that the resulting solutionis an extremely efficient fireextinguisher. By proyiding means whereby acid and soda mayinstantaneously be dropped into the storage tank 12, the apparatusheretofore described becomes a very effective fire fighting means.

In this connection I have provided two smaller tanks 66 and 68 which areset on top of the storage tank 12. One of these tanks contains soda andthe other sulphuric acid. By manipulating the lever 70 which is locatedbeside the pilot seat these ingredients are immediately dropped into thestorage tank 12 and the solution therein may 9 either pumped through thespraying system already described, or may be led through the conduits 72 and discharged through the hose 74 which is conveniently locatedadjacent the pilots seat.

It is obvious that there might be occasion to quench fire when the motorhad gone dead and the pump 16 was inoperative. In such an emergency itwould simply'be necessary to close valve 18 and open valve 76, and thepressure created by the gases evolved from dumping in the soda and acidwould suffice to discharge a powerful stream through tht hose 74.

The valve 78 in the conduit 72 is normall would simply be opened in th'event that a fire started while the motor wa running. Valve 7 6 islikewise normall closed and would be opened only in the even that firebroke out when the motor was deat In Fig. 4 I have shown the generalstructure of my storage tank 12 the top being removed therefrom in thisfigure. It will be noted that the return conduit 26 extends into thestorage chamber and is provided with a series of branches 80. Each ofthese branches 80 is of smaller diameter than the conduit 26 and openstowards the opposite extremity of the tank. This functions to reduce thehead of the liquor returning through conduit 26 and directsa streamthrough the branches 80 which "impinges upon the end Wall of the tank,thereby agitating the mixture to mainconduits, manual control means tama proper solution.

Various modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art andfor that reason I intend to limit myself only within the scope of theappended claims.

I claim.

1. In combination'with an aircraft having a cockpit and pilots seattherein, conduits extending along the wings and fuselage of saidaircraft, a single flexible extensible conduit adjacent the pilots seat,a supply of anti-freeze solution arranged to supply all of saidconduits, pressure means for forcing the liquid through theconduits,manual control means operable from the pilots seat fordirecting the flow of liquid through any single one of said conduits orall of them simultaneously, and means manually operable from the pilotsseat for instantaneously converting said anti-freeze solution into afire extinguishing solution.

2. In combination with an aircraft having a cockpit and pilots seattherein, conduits extending along the wings of said aircraft, a supplyof anti-freeze solution arranged to supply said conduit, pressure meansfor forcing the solution through the conduits, manual control meansoperable from the pilots seat for directing the flow of the solutionthrough the conduits, and means manual- I ly operable from the pilotseat for instantaneously converting said anti-freeze solution into afire extinguishing solution.

3. In combination with an aircraft having a cockpit and pilots seattherein, conduits extending along the fuselage of said tank through saidsolution through the conduits, manual control means operable from thepilot seat for directing the flow of liquid through either the fuselageor wing conduits, or both, and means manually o erable from the pilotseat for instantaneous y converting said antifreeze solution into a fireextinguishing solution. i

5. In combination with an aircraft spray mechanism, a liquid supplytank, means for forcing the liquid under pressure from said tank throughsaid system and thence back to the tank said spray system including a.return conduit extending into said tank and provided with a plurality ofspaced arcuate discharge passageways adapted to emit the returningliquid into the tank.

6. In combination with an aircraft spray mechanism, a liquid supplytank, means for forcing theliquid under pressure from said system andthence back to the tank, said spray system including a return conduitextending into said tank, said return conduit including a plurality ofarmate passageways of smaller diameter'than the return conduit andadapted to direct the liquid into the tank at different angles.

7. In combination with an aircraft, 'conduits extending along portionsof the exterior surface thereof, a supply of anti-freeze solutionarranged to supply said conduit, pressure means for forcing the solutionthrough the conduits, manual control means operable to direct the flowof the solution through the conduits, and means manually operable toinstantaneously convert said anti-freeze solution into a fireextinguishing solution.

In testimony whereof I, BERNARD J. P01.- LARD, sign this specification.I

BERNARD J. POLLARD.

aircraft, a supply of anti-freeze solution 'arranged to supply saidconduit, pressure means for forcing the solution through the operablefrom the pilots seat for directing the flow of the solution through theconduits, and means manually operable from the pilot seat forinstantaneously converting said antifreeze solution into a fireextinguishing solution.

4. In combination with an aircraft having a cockpit and pilots seattherein, conduits extending along the wings and fuselage of saidaircraft, a supply of anti-freeze solution arranged to supply said wingand fuselage conduits, pressure means for forcing the

